Applications of artificial intelligence in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery: a systematic review

Arguably one of the most disruptive innovations in medicine of the past decade, artificial intelligence is dramatically changing how healthcare is practiced today. A systematic review of the most recent artificial intelligence advances in facial plastic surgery is presented for surgeons to stay abreast of the latest in our field.

Artificial intelligence applications developed for use in perioperative patient evaluation and management, education, and research in facial plastic surgery are highlighted. Selected themes include automated facial analysis with landmark detection, automated facial palsy grading and emotional assessment, generation of artificial facial profiles for testing and model training, automated postoperative patient communications, and improving ethnicity-sensitive facial morphometry norms. Inherent bias can exist in artificial intelligence models, and care must be taken to utilize algorithms trained with diverse datasets.

Artificial intelligence tools are helping clinicians provide more standardized, objective, and efficient care to their patients. Increasing surgeon awareness of available tools, and their widespread implementation into clinical workflows are the next frontier. Ethical considerations must also shape the adoption of any artificial intelligence functionality. As artificial intelligence applications become a fixture in medicine, surgeons must employ them effectively to stay at the vanguard of modern medicine.